|
|
| UAE, Dubai - Today (Monday, Jan 4, 2010) The world's tallest "warehouse" (160 floors) giant tower, scheduled to open -- Called a "monumental architectural achievement" - others are calling it a "monumental mess-up". Here are some quotes - > "It's nothing more than a sign of "unbridled excess". > "Flush a toilet - and you pump water 1/2 mile up into the sky" > "Top 3 0 or 40 floors are wasted - too tiny to use for anything but storage" > "Uses enough electricity for a whole city" > "Big Tower, Big Cost, Big Show Off, Big Deal" |
 |
|
The city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is due to lead celebrations to unveil the majestic silvery construction that houses a luxury hotel, apartments and offices. Six years in the making, the Burj Dubai reaches 818 meters, or half a mile, into the sky above Dubai, with dizzying views of the ambitious building program that has transformed the emirate and left it swamped by debt. |
|
|
|
The structure's architects, Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have called the Burj "a bold global icon that will serve as a model for future urban centers." Declaring that "tall buildings are back," the company predicts that the groundbreaking techniques it used to push the Burj to new heights should enable the construction of even taller towers in the future. "As with any project, SOM's architects and engineers learned a great deal and are ready to apply this to the next world's tallest building as it is certainly possible to go taller," it said |
|
.
Video: World's tallest buildings
Despite such lofty claims, the Burj -- and other construction projects including the Palm Jumeirah and World archipelagos of man-made islands built for the super-rich -- have cast a financial shadow over Dubai. Last month the emirate was bailed out to the tune of $10 billion by neighboring Abu Dhabi after its state-owned holding company, Dubai World, shocked investors but asking for a freeze on payments owed on its $26 billion in debts. The announcement by Dubai World -- an umbrella group which includes the Burj's developers, delivered a cold dose of reality to speculators worldwide who believed the oil-rich region was impervious to the global financial crisis. While predicted economic recovery are likely to help Dubai to shake off some of its debt woes, if not fully regain its boom-time ebullience, some say the city's path of prestige over practicality will leave projects like the Burj struggling to justify their place in the Gulf state's skyline. "Dubai doesn't really need to have to build tall asides from prestige purposes," Jim Krane, author of "City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism" told CNN in a recent interview. "If you look at it, it's a really bad idea. It uses as much electricity as an entire city. And every time the toilet is flushed they've got to pump water half a mile into the sky," he said. |
 |
|
The telescopic shape is also presents problems of a more practical nature Krane says. "The upper 30 or 40 floors are so tiny that they're useless, so they can't use them for anything else apart from storage. They've built a small, not so useful storage warehouse half a mile in the sky," he said. |
|
|
